172 



Phenomena attending Sphce^ria haxinea. 



they were regarded at first as curious, and somewhat orna- 

 mental productions of nature ; but when I entered the par- 

 lour on the following morning, I was struck with surprise at 

 finding each of them surrounded w ith a black powdery efflo- 

 rescence {fg. 48.), dense edges well defined near the fungus, 

 but graduiilly shaded 

 off, and somewhat ra- 

 diated. Underneath, 

 there was not the 

 slightest particle of 

 powder; but the whole 

 convex surface of each 

 was covered with a 

 powdery mass, or stra- 

 tum, of a fine bluish - 

 black colour, which 

 was readily brushed 

 off with a feather; in 

 fact, from ten or twelve 

 of these fungi, I col- 

 lecited dust enough to 

 form, when ground 

 up with mucilage of 

 acacia gum, a small 

 cake of colour, with which the accompanying specimen 

 was etched with a crow-quill. By repeated observations, I 

 found that the radiation took place only in the night; never 

 between the hours of 10 A.M. and 5 P.M., but constantly 

 after the evening had closed. Connecting this fact with 

 other natural phenomena, I am inclined to ascribe the process 

 to electrical agency ; I believe it to depend upon that ascend- 

 ing current of electricity, which is evidently in a state of pecu- 

 liar activity during the night, and is the origin of several 

 marked phenomena; among others, I little doubt, that of the 

 diffusion of odour from the corollas of night-smelling plants. 

 I hope soon to invite your attention to the phenomena of the 

 descending day-current of solar electricity, and the ascending 

 night-current, just alluded to; but the subject would be pre- 

 mature on the present occasion. 



In the instance of this curious fungus, I think it philoso- 

 phically just to enquire, whether or not the peculiar season of 

 the last year, 1828, might not produce effects very different 

 from those attendant upon ordinary seasons. From the 18th 

 or 19th of March, the whole spring and the greater part of 

 the summer appeared to be governed by electrical induc- 

 tions j and it is possible that many phenomena may have 



